An unplanned Journey to Chopta-Tungnath, Highest Shiva Temple in the World.

Kashmiri Gate ( Delhi ) 🚌 Rishikesh ( UK ) 🚌 Srinagar ( UK )

Well, as the title says itself it was an unplanned journey. I returned back from Sikkim on 1st of Jan, 2018, it was the first time i have traveled anywhere without my family. And, soon after returning from Sikkim i couldn't wait to travel more, i was so mesmerized by the nature, snowy mountains, frozen lakes, freezing weather, taste of different flavors of food, making new friends & most important survival and to test your limits how far can you go, since then i had this hunger for travel. Soon after, 25 days on 26th Jan i with my great college friend decide to travel to Uttarakhand for trek to Kartik Swami Temple. We decided to go as unplanned as possible so only booked the bus tickets from Red bus app, on 26th bus leaves from Kashmiri Gate at 6:30 in the morning. Also it was a budget trip so we booked the UTC bus. We didn't had much luggage both were carrying just backpacks of 40L each with the essential items. At first we thought bus condition would be like most of roadways buses but we were surprised to see the bus condition both in-out, seats covered with white sheets, nice and clean all windows glasses are intact, no cracks nothing. Seats were comfortable in sitting also. It was cold, outside and i brought breakfast with me, Mom's made " Aloo Paratha " with ketchup. We both enjoyed it and our journey from Kashmiri Gate to Rishikesh started. Outside it was dark & fog, so we thought of video calling our friends i named as 7 Musketeers, took selfies as our journey begins. Later we engrossed ourselves into the music as i see outside the windows and after some time our first stoppage for tea-coffee & snacks came. Instead of tea, we insist to have coffee and we regret our decision as soon as we had our first sip, we had to let our coffee go and made our way back to bus seat. Bus started and again we both lost in ourselves and enjoyed sleeping how can i not enjoy a nap in the bus everyone who have traveled with me know how comfortable i am in sleeping anywhere, anytime. Sometimes i feel i have a superpower of sleeping in a bus or car while traveling, surely it makes time to pass swiftly, so no complaints. Finally after 8hrs of journey we reach our first destination Rishikesh. We were starving, we didn't had much except the " Aloo Paratha " in morning. So we straight away went to local restaurant where we had food which was little spicy and charged our phone's. From there we have to go to a village known as "Kanakchauri". We asked the way to reach to Kanakchauri they told us we can go either by local bus or private vehicle. Private vehicle obviously cost more, and we are on low budget so choose to travel via local bus. But the bus will drop us only till Srinagar, from there again we have to go via different transport. At 3:30pm bus started meanwhile i bought peanuts & popcorn from a nearby stall. As the bus moved further, outside view from window changed we could see the barren hills with some of trees left, deforestation is the main reason of landslides & floods. Views are changing every decade, from greener to more barren i cant imagine how will the hills & mountains will look if we keep pushing the nature. As i kept thinking, it was getting dark outside and after 3 and half hours of journey we reached to Srinagar, this is the first time i came to know there is another Srinagar apart capital of J&K. It was dark outside we couldn't see any bus nearby, our bus driver told us after 6 there are no buses to go further. We are aware this could happen, in the Himalayas you won't find any vehicle running after 7PM, because its not safe to travel in the dark one reason is the curvy roads & second one is wild animals could appear from the nearby forest areas so it is dangerous to travel in the dark in mountains. Although there were some jeeps available but they were charging money way more so we decided to stay in Srinagar. Now where to find the hotels as we haven't planned anything or know about this place. Some of locals surely from hotels were asking everyone if anyone required hotels at first we avoided them and try to find the hotel online, but online no hotel's were available in nearby. At last we asked one or two locals where to find a place to stay, we got a great deal, with basic amenities bed, fan, TV & attached washroom, it was not so bad just to stay for a night at least for two men. We checked-in to hotel, put our luggage in room. We asked hotel manager for a good restaurant in nearby, we found out a veg restaurant, being myself a vegetarian & my friend doesn't want to have meat as we were in Uttarakhand known as " Dev Bhumi ". We ordered plain rice, dal tadka, mix veg & chapati, we specifically asked the cook not to make it too spicy, he said OK, still it was too spicy for our taste buds, i guess we should have said not to add any Chili pepper. But overall food taste was good & hygienic not so oily. After the meal, we came to our hotel watched TV for a while and again did conference call to our group 7 Musketeers, with this i'm signing off for the day, as we have to wake up early in the morning to catch a bus for our next stop. See you at Day-2.

Srinagar 🚌 Kanakchauri 🚌 Kartik Swami Temple 🚌 Rudraprayag

On day-2, the alarm rang at 5 in the morning, i awoke, had a good sleep. After the morning routine, i woke him up to freshen up meanwhile i packed my luggage and turn on the music in TV. Soon, we were ready and after checking out from hotel straight went to bus stop. It was a beautiful morning and cool breeze was coming on our faces, we find a tea stall, had tea & biscuits, talked with locals, how to go to Kanakchauri village and we were told we can go via city bus and being told bus will come around 6:15AM. So we payed for tea & biscuits and waited for the bus, good thing was bus was on time. From Srinagar to Kanakchauri distance was 70km almost 3hrs journey, we board the bus and took right row 2nd seat and bought the ticket. On the seat next to us we met the same people with whom we traveled last night from Rishikesh to Srinagar, they told us they are going to Chopta they were almost group of 10-12 people, all were from same college and we told them we are going for Kartik Swami Temple Trek. As the bus started, we both relaxed on our seats, and it was still dark outside so i again slept and he engrossed himself in music. After an hour of sleep, he woke me up outside view was pretty clear now, and able to see the sunrise over the mountains and it was simply beautiful, what more do you want than watching a sunrise in mountains. At that time one thought keeping coming to my mind and that is " My Morning vs Your Morning ". While we were enjoying the glimpses of a beautiful morning, we reached our destination, village Kanakchauri. It was rightly said, " Time flies, when you're having fun ". We got off the bus and near the bus stop there was a small shop from where trek to Kartik Swami Temple begins, we were hungry so again had tea & snacks. At 9:30AM we started our trek, walking forward with our backpacks as we ascend there was no one around only two of us who doesn't know the way, we were just following up a trail of footprints. In between wherever we find the snow we start playing with it, shooting snow balls to each other, making snowman, taking selfies clicking pictures of the view. It was the first we both are trekking, the Kartik Swami Temple trek is an easy trek, for the beginners. We were in the forest all alone, couldn't see any sunlight because of the dense forest, we could hear the bird chirping as we moved forward there was a selfie point which is isolated from the trees & you could see the complete village from there suddenly we heard someone coming, you're in forest, and first rule is always be alert, i try to sneak who or what it is ? I could see the blurred images, and i shouted it is a person as they came closer i knew who they are. They are my office colleagues, wait did i mentioned earlier my office colleagues were also coming for the same trek ? If not, well this trek idea was given by my another office colleague who have already been to the place and when i saw the images of top i was mesmerized by the view so i decided to go for it and discussed with my other colleagues at first they didn't agree, denying to go this way i asked to my college friend tell him about the place, he said OK and the plan to Kartik Swami Temple is ON. But later, my office colleagues also agreed to go for the trek. Now i was in dilemma with whom to go, discussed both side me & my colleagues wanted to leave tonight for Rishikesh so that we can save time, but my friend asked to go in early morning as he have some other work to do and i couldn't let him down as he said yes when no one was ready to go so this i have proved my friendship to him, haha. So coming back to present i met my colleagues, introduced my friend to them talked for few minutes, how was it ? where to go ? etc, etc. They told us which way we will find the more snow and at last we clicked a group selfie and bid goodbyes to each other. And as we ascend we same to the place which my colleagues were taking about, where we will find more snow. We again started to play with snow, shooting snowballs to each other but as we moved further in the search of more snow while playing we saw animal foot prints from the look it seems like a tiger foot prints. Now we were afraid starting looking for way out we look back we can only see the trees no trail was there from where we came so we moved forward following the trail, few meters away we saw the top & side bearing around a path but there was no path available or any stairs available. It was like slant hill or approximately 70 degree, having no other way to go we started to climb it, sticking our fingers in the sand, holding the small plants from the roots, meanwhile my friend was kept saying "sale tu marwayega" and my reply to it " bhai thoda adventure ho gya". As we were in between i saw some locals collecting the wood, i shouted Hello... Hello ... Is this the right way ? They said " bhayia aap galat aa gye, mandir ka rasta dusri side hai, ye rasta jungle ki taraf jata hai, bhagwan ka shukriya karo, kabhi kabhi iss taraf junglee bhalu aa jata hai. I told them, hume dusri side koi rasta nhi dikayi diya to.iss taraf aa gye, aur neeche hume kuch panjo ke nishaan mile thai to hum iss taraf aa gye. I asked, Ab kya kare ? Iss taraf se Mandir ke liye koi rasta nahi hai kya ? They told, dhyan se dheere dheere aajo upar ". I told my friend we have come wrong way, right route was other way but till that time we both we in the middle of climb, ascending seems easy than descending the hill, so we kept climbing slowly slowly after half and hour of climb we were on the top and finally relived hugged each other & thanked God. It was 11:30AM and before going inside temple we sat on a rock & enjoyed the view. The temple is perched on a hilltop at an elevation of 3050mtr and it is located in such a way, you can feel that you are literally standing in an amphitheater with peaks surrounding you in a semi-circle. One can soak in the mystical beauty of the snowy peaks and the lower Himalayas. We entered in the temple, prayed to lord Kartikeya and did parikrama. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva told his sons Ganesha and Kartikeya that one of them, who will be the first to take seven rounds of the universe will have the privilege of being worshiped first.Ganesha took seven rounds around Shiva and Parvati, while Kartikeya faithfully circled the universe. Impressed by Ganesha, Shiva gave him the honor of being worshiped before anyone. Angered by this, Kartikeya sacrificed his body and gave his bones to Lord Shiva as reverence. It is believed that the incident took place here. Later we explored the place, on the temple backside there is a pathway which takes you to place where grass was greener, view was more clear and you will feel literally standing in an amphitheater with peaks surrounding you in a semi-circle. We sat on the grass, we were hungry & we both have ready made food Poha & Maggie i was carrying boiled water in Milton bottle, which i brought from Delhi and water was still hot on second day we enjoy Poha & Maggie with the beautiful mountains around 270°. While we were enjoying the scenic beauty of nature in mind one song was playing constantly " Idhar ka hi hoon na udhar ka raha Safar ka hi tha main safar ka raha " and in split of second i played this song on mobile."Nazara itna haseen tha, tasveer se jayada, aakhon mai kaid kar lena chahte thai" but to mark our presence there we clicked some pictures of the mystical beauty of mountains, selfies and picture of our backpacks. We packed our bags and carried out our wrapper & waste in a plastic bag to throw them in a dustbin once we reach in the village. It is every traveler responsibility to keep the nature clean for our incoming generation. We started to descend & during it we met a girl who was travelling solo, few times she saved herself from falling, we asked her are you okay ? Need any help & asked her to go slowly slowly as ice is buried because of which path is slippery. We both thought she might require some help lets walk slowly and stay close. We had small conversation among us, talking really help, we did not know when the time passed and we reached in the village. It took 2hrs to descend from the top, it was 4:00PM and she said thank you before leaving. While she is gone, we waited for the bus to go to Rudraprayag. We were lucky bus arrived by 4:10PM, as we board the bus & sat on our seats we discussed what to do next, because we only came to complete Kartik Swami Temple Trek and had no further plans. Surely, we didn't want to go back so all the way we searched for near by places to visit. It was 5:30PM when we reached Rudraprayag and its too late to go anywhere now so again we have to search a place to stay. This time we googled it, and find out some good options and straight away went to the hotel to book directly. Once reached, we talked with the manager for the room availability but he was charging more as compared to online price we bargained with him, told them we also have coupons available after bargaining for some more time at last he agreed to give the room in same price as it was available online. We did the formalities, and went to our room to put our luggage & to relax and watched TV. After an hour around 7:00PM we went for a walk to see the confluence of two river Alaknanda & Mandakini. The famed town of Rudraprayag is named after the Rudra avatar of Lord Shiva. The pristine town of Rudraprayag is nestled on the holy confluence of Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers and Rudraprayag is one of the Panch Prayag g or five confluences of Alaknanda River. As the sunsets, you can feel the sudden temp. drop and today we felt cold because we were near to two rivers, one can feel the cold breeze on his face. It was getting dark, also we were hungry so searched for good restaurant and today we specially told the cook not to make it spicy, we order dal tadka, fried rice tawa roti and food was better as compared to yesterday not too spicy and my friend order the biryani i guessed he couldn't live without the chicken. After dinner we came back to our room, called one of our friend who is from Uttarakhandto ask him where to go next as we had two options available either go to Chopta-Tungnath or go to Auli, we decided to go to Chopta-Tungnath, first bus leaves at 6 in the morning. With this i'm signing off for the day. See you at Day-3.

Rudraprayag 🚌 Ukhimath 🚌 Makku Bend 🚌 Chopta-Tungnath 🚌 Ukhimath

On day-3, again we woke up early in the morning, as we have to catch the first bus that leaves at 6AM. We freshen up and quickly packed our backpacks, checked out from the hotel and straight away went to bus stand. It was very cold outside, the cold wind was blowing and at bus stand we had a cup of tea, til the time we were waiting for bus to arrive. Some people nearby are getting warm up by burning some wood around the corner. As it was ten minutes past 6o'clock we asked people when bus to Chopta will come, they told us something bus is running late or got cancelled. There was also a bolero parked, we asked the driver if he will go towards Chopta he replied, he will go but after all seats get filled, so now we need 6 more person and luckily in 5-10 minutes other travelers also came as bus was running late. But again, new surprise from driver he was waiting for the newspaper distribute, so he can distribute newspaper in nearby villages. We started at 6:40am, choose to sit in the front seats to enjoy the outside view, SRK songs were playing in the car stereo, sky was completely blue & clear, cold wind was blowing it was a beautiful day. As we are heading towards our destination he dropped newspaper in the villages, if you have noticed in the hilly areas distribution system works like that only, bus or car along with people carry stuffs like milk, fruits, newspaper etc. The driver dropped us to a location near to Ukhimath village & arranged a different vehicle for us, as he has to go on different route from there. We changed the vehicle, which dropped to Ukhimath and told for chopta you need to board different vehicle. There aren't much crowd available around us, we asked a shopkeeper how to go to chopta, he told you have to book personal cab to reach chopta, you won't get a sharing cabs for chopta. He asked us ₹1000 for single trip from Ukhimath to Chopta. We aren't carrying much cash & didn't expected there won't be any sharing cabs for chopta, we checked, we both had only ₹800 in total and if we gave all of our money to him were left with nothing while returning, in between also we may require the money. So we asked locals for nearby ATM, they told us ATM's are closed today we asked, why ? They told us today is Sunday & on Sunday's all ATM's remains closed. We requested nearby shopkeeper that we will transfer the money to you account if they can give us some cash. Luckily one shopkeeper see's us and asked come with him, he opened the ATM shutter for us than we collected cash from ATM & thanked him. It was around 9:00AM and, we were hungry, we didn't had anything since morning so bought some fruits, later we asked the car driver to take us to Chopta. As we began our journey to Chopta, we were having conversation with driver about the place, why ATM's remains closed on Sunday's here, will we be seeing the snow in Chopta or not ? He answered, "Sahab ye chote sehar hai, yaha jarurat nhi hai itni, han sahab kal raat ko hi barf giri hai yahan". I was excited to see the snow for the first time. Soon, we stooped at a place known as Makku Bend he told us this vehicle will not go beyond this point. You need to book separate taxi from Makku Bend till Chopta. We asked the cab driver " bhayia aapne bola tha chopta tak jayegi gaadi, abhi aap bol rhe aage nhi jayegi, dusri cab book krni padegi, ye to galat hai" but we didn't had any other choice now so before going any further in our journey we decided to have something in breakfast first we ate Aloo Paratha. Later, we discussed some taxi drivers to take us to chopta and luckily we got one taxi with 2 seats available. After some time, when everyone from our taxi had there breakfast finally, we are going to Chopta but after travelling for approx. 2km towards our destination another trouble knocked our doors "tyre skidding" on icy road, as there was too much snow settled onto roads and this wasn't the fresh snow, most of the road is covered with icy snow, we can icy snow understand like this when snowflakes falls onto ground and with time they freeze to the crystals, forming a lumpy mass. And, soon our vehicle tyres are jammed at one place driver asked to get off the vehicle & ask for our support to push the vehicle but it was really difficult to push the vehicle on those slippery road, we ourselves are slipping while pushing it. We tried pushing with putting some fresh snow around the tyres as fresh snow is crumbly as compared to icy snow. Around 30 minutes has been passed in pushing the vehicle but are with no luck to get it moving. We were running out of time as we have to reach the Chopta before 12:00PM to complete the trek before evening. It was 10:00AM and we decided to cover the rest of journey till Chopta via foot, we paid the driver some amount for bringing us this far. We moved ahead with the spectacular views of valley covered with snow, in between we come across many tents setup by different agencies such as Adventure Nation, India Hikes etc. we covered around 1km in half an hour and still 5 more kms to covered we were aware we are behind the time with this pace we will not be able to complete the trek but we were happy and enjoying the journey. Soon, we starts hearing the sound of vehicles approaching toward us we gave the hitchhiking sign but all the vehicles seats are completely full with the passengers but wait here comes our taxi which we booked from Makku bend, the driver saw us and stopped the vehicle for us but unfortunately all the seats were full. He asked, if both of you can sit on the car roof top and said thank you we are OK. We settle down ourselves on the car roof top but as soon as the car starts moving it was scary and even scarier on each turn, we were holding the roof top carrier so tightly because on every turn our heartbeats rises and sitting on the roof top in the month of January in Chopta where temp is around 2-3 degree Celsius with the freezing cold wind blowing on our faces and our hands were frozen we can't feel them. In spite of this, that one hour journey sitting on the roof top is the best experience i ever had, witnessing the scenic beauty of valley covered with snow were mesmerizing, that feeling can't be expressed in words, those panoramic views can never be captured by any camera, feeling the cold breeze over your face.Even today when i close my eyes i can feel the same experience but to feel the way i feel you have to be physically be there to experience the feeling of lifetime. Did not know when our destination arrived, my leg was numb & hands were freezing but finally we reached to Chopta from where our trek to Tungnath Temple - the highest Shiva temple in world starts. Before starting the trek we ate Maggie & get 4 water bottles as after that you won't find any other shops. At that shop we met group of students who are also from Delhi, one of them has brought the guitar along him, few of member aren't going for the trek so everyone of them decided to stay and enjoy their time at Chopta. We bid Goodbye to them & as move ahead, we joined our hand thanks god for everything and start our trek from Chopta to Tungnath Temple, we weren't carrying any trekking pole so we break off a tree branch & made it our own hand made trekking stick because they support while you hike and can help you maintain balance through various types of tricky terrain. It was hard to find the trails as it has been completely covered in beautiful white snow, you have to keep trek of footprints of other people so that you didn't get lost. As you ascend, there is dug on one side so you have to be careful, you have to keep on checking the front trail with your stick, to check the snow depth & that you're following the right trail and most importantly don't rush, take small small steps & move slowly don't let the adrenaline rush through your veins, keep hydrating your body with small sips of water. In between we met 3 friends from Haryana, my native being the Haryana so we easily connected with each other and had couple of conversation about each other. As we moved further one of the three friends wasn't feeling so good so they decided to wait for some time and we continued our journey. Getting hydrated, resting for while, clicking pictures of each other, capturing scenic beauty of Chopta, landscapes covered in snow, Snow is visible far and wide, playing with snow, throwing snow balls on each other, writing our names on snow, marking our presence of being here in the laps of Mahadev - Tungnath valley. Some of people have run out of water, so they were filling snow into there bottles and waiting for snow to melts down. We are about to reach Tungnath Temple and, around ten minutes before you reach Tungnath, there is a small detour to a peak called Ravansheela. It is the place where the demon king Ravana meditated to please Lord Shiva. you can enjoy the panoramic valley views from Ravansheela. Tungnath in district Rudraprayag is mainly famous for two things- first the ancient Tungnath temple believed to be one thousand years old and considered as world‘s highest Shiva temple located at an altitude of 3,470mtr. and is one among the Panch Kedar Shrines. It is believed to be more than 1000 years old. The temple is closed during the winters and the deity is shifted to Mukku village. Tungnath temple opens its doors to pilgrims in the summer around the end of April and shuts down in November in winter. Second, Chandersheela, where Lord Rama did penance for recovering from ’Brahmhatya,’ after killing Ravana who was a Brahamin. In around 10 minutes, we reached to our first destination Tungnath - The Highest Shiva Temple in world, Temple was not open as it remains closed during winter due to high snowfall. We offered our prayers to Lord Shiva & thank him for everything we are blessed. It was around 3:ooPM and temperature is falling down, soon it is going to be dark so we drop our plan of going to Chandersheela Peak and decided to enjoy the panoramic views of the Kumaon & Garhwal ranges, it was so calm & peaceful out there, feel the cold breeze over your face, mountains are covered with snow, we clicked some pictures of ourselves of being there & of the mystic views of the mountains covered in snows which are hard to capture by any Camera. It was getting cold, we have to reach back to base before sunset. Swiftly, we carried our luggage and start our descends to base. Descending is much easier as compared to ascending, we took some shortcuts, intentionally jumped into snow, snow was around 3 feet deep by now our shoes are filled with snows, the most fun part was sliding through snow to get to base as soon as possible. The sun was about to set and its light painted the sky with orange and golden yellow color just like a painter fills the color to its canvas, It was beautiful. We reached to the base around 5:00PM, the same shop was open so we both had tea to warm ourselves. At tea shop, again we met those 3 friends from Haryana, i asked where were you ? we were looking for you at the top, they answered, they couldn't make it to the top, as one of their friend wasn't feeling well. They showed us their pictures with National flag - Tiranga. After finishing our tea we all started looking for the shared taxi to go back to Makku bend, as we haven't booked the taxi in the morning when we arrived to Chopta all the taxi's are booked and didn't have any vacant seat in any of taxi's. The more be discuss with the taxi drivers about the seats our nervousness is increasing & started to worry because we also haven't booked the hotel for they night stay. The whole idea of unplanned trip is going to be like we both kept our foot on axe. I calmed my friend and went to tea shop for some stay option. He answered, all stays in Chopta's are booked. We requested if he can allow both of us to stay in his shop for a night. He answered, Rs800 per person with one blanket for each. We said, Okay Uncle Ji we will let you know just give us 5 minutes to decide. Then, again we met those 3 friends we asked have you arranged taxi for yourself ? They also said, all the taxi's are booked. Now we all 5 discussed what to do next, we all decided to go via foot if in between we get any taxi we will board it. They have their car parked at Makku Bend, we all started walking taking each other, sharing about their lives, we were even carring our trekking stick in case any animal attack us, although we knew if anything attacked us that stick isn't gonna help us, still something is better than nothing. Being altogether & watching for each other we continued walking, It is now 6:00PM and got dark with our phones flash turned on also it is difficult to see the road clearly, many a time we slipped on icy road. After walking for an hour, we almost have covered 3 kms and still 4kms more to be covered. Around 6:30PM, we heard the vehicle approaching us, Tata Nano, is going back to Chopta we asked if he can drop us to Makku Bend, but he said he have to go back to Chopta if you all want i can drop you there. We said, No thank you ! one of us said " bhot Sahi, jahan se shuru kiya tha tu wapis whi bhej de ". A little later, we again heard sound of one more vehicle coming toward us from Chopta. The driver stopped the vehicle and asked us if you all can adjust he will drop us to Makku Bend. This time me & my friend choose to sit inside the vehicle, we both somehow adjusted ourselves and remaining 3 friends settled down themselves on the roof top. After settling up, car started, there again we met some students from Delhi - Noida, they were shocked we have covered 3-4kms from Chopta on foot that's too at this hour of day, when it is completely dark outside. Our answer was, we simply didn't had any choice and laughed . After a while we reached to Makku Bend. We all are it relived but inside me & my friend knew that still we didn't have any hotel booked for the night stay so we asked Haryana boys about their Hotel Booking, does their hotel have any room vacant for one night. They weren't sure, they gave us the phone no. of the hotel but there was no network in that area. They asked, to come with us at hotel you can check if there are any rooms available. As said, earlier we didn't had any better option so adjusted in their car meanwhile kept checking the network so we can contact the hotel manager but still no network. We waited, and waited soon we reached at hotel in Ukhimath, checked with manager for one room availability & thankfully only one was available, we thanked all 3 of them for helping us. At last we both were relived went to our room, kept our luggage & straight away went for the dinner. We both are still thankful to those guys whom i called them as "Haryana boys". If they weren't there that day, we didn't know what we are gonna do ? or what could happen to us ? Thanks to them & The Lord Shiva, and as the saying goes "All is well that ends well". With this i'm signing off for the day. See you at Day-4.

Ukhimath 🚌 Rishikesh 🚌 Kashmiri Gate

On day-4, we woke up early as our hotel manager told us, the bus for the Rishikesh leaves at 6:30AM. We freshen up and quickly packed our backpacks, got ready by 6:00AM and after having breakfast we checked out from the hotel and start waiting for the bus. After waiting for some time, bus came around 7:00AM we bought the tickets and after settling down, we asked each other we came for the Kartik Swami temple trek only how come we went for the Chopta - Tungnath Trek. The whole trip was so unplanned till now when ever i meet him we discussed about the very same trek and laugh together thinking about the memories of the trip. As they say, "Life's best moments usually happen unplanned" whether it is a journey to place or finding love of your life, so go with the flow my friend. And, the reason i love traveling so much is : to meet the wonderful people out there, who has so much stories to tell you sharing a connection which grows stronger with time.

Thank You, for reading a adventure of my life.

#staysafe